1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to lifting harnesses including receiving slots for receiving and retaining links for load bearing chains.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various harnesses and the like have been utilized to connect pulley assemblies, block and tackle assemblies, cranes and the like to heavy objects in order to enable the heavy objects to be lifted. For example, in order to overhaul automobile engines, it is ordinarily necessary to carefully "pull" the engine by disconnecting the engine mounts and attaching a crane assembly or the like to the engine by means of hooks or clevises bolted to pre-existing engine bolt holes in order to lift the engine out of the engine compartment, and later to lower the engine into the engine compartment to reinstall the engine. Many of the prior devices used to lift automobile engines and other heavy objects have been improvised and are highly unsafe. Their use has resulted in numerous serious injuries to individuals working in the vicinity of the engine. Although there is often a need for the heavy object being lifted or lowered to be precisely aligned or oriented in some fashion, many of the prior devices make it difficult to precisely align or orient the heavy object being lifted or lowered. Thus, there is a need for a safe, economical device which can be conveniently and readily attached to an automobile engine or other heavy object to enable a crane or the like to precisely align or orient the heavy object and to safely and quickly lift or lower the heavy object.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a safe, convenient, easily used lifting harness for connecting a heavy object to be lifted to a crane or the like.
One known prior device includes an elongated steel plate having an upper hole and a lower hole. A hook from a crane, pulley system or the like is inserted through the upper hole to support the plate. An elongated slot extends vertically from the lower edge of the lower hole. The lower hole is sufficiently large that a heavy lifting chain can be passed therethrough. An elongated slot extends vertically downward from the lower edge of the lower hole. The elongated slot has sufficient length and width that both opposed loop sides of any particular link of the chain can be loosely fitted into and contained within the elongated slot. The elongated slot is sufficiently narrow that the two adjacent chain links engaging opposite ends of the particular chain link are prevented from being pulled through the elongated slot. Ordinarily, suitable end connectors, such as hooks or clevises, are attached to the ends of the two segments of the chain extending downward on opposite sides of the steel plate from the particular chain link placed in the elongated slot. The hooks or clevises are hooked to or bolted to the object to be lifted, the particular link of the chain to be placed in the elongated slot being selected to adjust the segments of the chain to suitable lengths. However, the described device is often inconvenient to use because, for example, clevises might be needed to attach the chain segments to the particular object to be lifted, but the available chain segments have hooks attached thereto. This necessitates locating another lifting harness having the desired clevises or laboriously replacing and removing the hooks and replacing them with clevises. Further, precise adjustment of the lengths of the two above mentioned segments of the chain is often unduly coarse and imprecise because shortening the length of one segment automatically results in lengthening the other segment.
Accordingly, yet another object of the invention is to provide a lifting harness which avoids the need for replacement of end connectors for accomplishment of different lifting tasks.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a lifting harness which provides a greater degree of flexibility and precision in adjusting lengths of segments of chain than the known lifting harnesses.